Go By The Board

The phrase “go by the board” has fallen out of use, however,at one point, it was quite popular and without a doubt, it’s still an interesting expression, even today. Nautical in nature, the phrase refers to the board of a ship where, when masts of sailing ships  fell over it was said they had go[ne] by the board.

Strangely enough, though, the phrase also has 2 other meanings.  One refers to following the rules of a game while the other refers to bending the law to get what one wants.  Both of these meanings came about as a result of the American indulgence in betting and card playing which was one of many pass times the British colonists brought with them to the New World.

In 1921, American novelist, short story writer, and designer Edith Wharton became the first woman to win the Pulitzer Prize for Literature for her book, “The Age of Innocence.”  The following is included in her book:

He had not to wait a moment for the answer. “To beg you, Monsieur–to beg you with all the force I’m capable of–not to let her go back.–Oh, don’t let her!” M. Riviere exclaimed.

Archer looked at him with increasing astonishment. There was no mistaking the sincerity of his distress or the strength of his determination: he had evidently resolved to let everything go by the board but the supreme need of thus putting himself on record. Archer considered.

“May I ask,” he said at length, “if this is the line you took with the Countess Olenska?”

The phrase is found in The Gettysburg Republican Compiler dated November 1837 wherein it states:

Those banks that do not resume speedily will go by the board.

One of the earliest references to the expression “go by the board” is found in the introduction to the first volume of the Wittenberg Edition of Martin Luther‘s writings back in 1539 wherein he wrote:

I would have been quite content to see my books, one and all, remain in obscurity and go by the board!

Idiomation is unable to find a published version of this phrase earlier than the Martin Luther reference however the ease with which Martin  Luther used the expression indicates that the phrase was common place in the early 1500s and quite possibly before then.

April Fool’s

There are those who will tell you that the silliness associated with April 1 began in 1582 in France with the reform of the calendar under Charles IX. The Gregorian Calendar was introduced and the week leading up to New Year’s Day was moved from March 25 through April 1  to January 1.

It all sounds very plausible except for the fact that pranks played on April 1 are documented long before 1582.

Chaucer (who has been referenced previously in other idioms at this blog) made mention of April Fool’s Day in the Nun’s Priest’s Tale from the Canterbury Tales in 1392. 

When that the monthe in which the world bigan
That highte March, whan God first maked man,
Was complet, and passed were also
Syn March bigan thritty dayes and two.

In 1508, Eloy d’Amerval, a French choirmaster and composer wrote a poem entitled, “Le livre de la deablerie.”  The poem includes the line, “maquereau infâme de maint homme et de mainte femme, poisson d’avril.”  The term “poisson d’avril” is the phrase shouted out when someone falls for an April Fool’s prank.

Flemish writer, Eduard De Dene, published a poem in 1539 about a nobleman who hatches a plan to send his servant back and forth on absurd errands on April 1st.  The last line of each stanza has the servant saying, “I am afraid that you are trying to make me run a fool’s errand.”

So while it’s next to impossible to say for certain when the custom of playing pranks on others on April 1 first began and who was responsible for it all, it’s a fact that April Fool’s Day  has been around and acknowledged for centuries.